Your view of the root cause of much of the general "mess" we are in

[moondust]

45. Financialization & globalization.

Both took off during the Reagan/Thatcher years.

Financialization is a term sometimes used in discussions of the financial capitalism that has developed over the decades between 1980 and 2010, in which financial leverage tended to override capital (equity), and financial markets tended to dominate over the traditional industrial economy and agricultural economics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financialization

Financialization rewards gamblers and "connected insiders" who already have more than they need, in many cases MUCH more than they need.

Globalization undermines the bargaining power of labor.

A consumer economy that provides jobs needs buyers. Such an economy is undermined by the concentration of wealth. No matter how much wealth they accumulate, fat cats are not going to keep buying a lot of microwave ovens and automobiles they don't need just to be nice guys and keep people working. In the past Obama has talked some about "bottom-up economics".

TheRump has suggested collecting tariffs on automobiles built offshore and then shipped back to dealers in the U.S. for sale. Such a tariff would seem to make their selling price competitive with autos made by Americans in the U.S. at higher wages. Why wouldn't this parity model work broadly? (Screaming "protectionism!" at the top of your lungs is not a valid argument.)